The invention relates to a strand guide for continuous casting plants having a frame or section that can be actuated by an adjustment means. The supporting means, such as plates or rolls, are arranged and are adjustable to one side of the cast strand. Such strand guides are particularly necessary for the lateral support of cast strands having a molten core and a relatively thin strand skin which are produced in high capacity casting plants that cast slabs.
In known strand guides the supporting elements consist of plates, rollers or rolls. They are arranged in frames which are either rigidly connected with the carrying structure of the secondary cooling zone or are adjustable to the strand by means of an actuating drive.
In German Patent No. 1,558,210, a supporting or transport roll means for continuous casting plants is disclosed, which has rolls that can be urged to one side of the strand by means of force-actuated adjustment means. These rolls are arranged on a section that is articulately connected with the adjustment means. The adjustment is infinitely variable.
In known strand guides of the described kind there is a problem in that the adjustment of the supporting means to different sizes, i.e. to different frame thicknesses and widths, is time-consuming and complicated, because a precise adjustment by means of gauges is necessary and the supporting elements have to be manually secured in their new positions by means of screws or wedges. A further significant disadvantage of known strand guides cosists in that the supporting means contacting the strand, together with the frame to which they are secured, the adjustment means and the drive mechanism, are destroyed when the molten steel breaks through because they weld together with the outflowing steel.
A further disadvantage of known strand guides consists in the fact that by the adjustment of the supporting means to the strand skin without a defined stop, e.g. by means of a hydraulic cylinder, no defined position, constant throughout the entire casting procedure, relative to the lower edge of the mould copper plate, is guaranteed, whereby cracks can form on the slab.